U.S. women's field hockey team will move to Spooky Nook Sports

By Heather Stauffer,
January 22, 2013 at 3:00 PM
- Last modified: January 22, 2013 at 3:49 PM

Illustrations show how the U.S. Women's Field Hockey Team's quarters inside Nook Sports might look. Illustrations/Submitted

The U.S. women's national field hockey team will make Spooky Nook Sports its home, the East Hempfield Township facility announced this afternoon.

The team, which currently trains at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., will move here as soon as the Nook Sports venue is completed – probably late summer. The agreement will run through 2022, and an area designed specifically for Team USA will feature home and away locker rooms, strength and conditioning facilities, conference and lounge areas, and office space.

Nook Sports will also be USA Field Hockey's home base for many elite, junior and development events, including, from 2014 onward, hosting the National Futures Championships, Futures Elite Championship and National Club Championship.

The indoor center will become the permanent host of the National Indoor Tournament beginning in 2015.

"Nook Sports is one of the most spectacular athletic facilities in the country," Steve Locke, executive director of USA Field Hockey, said in a news release. "The location is ideal as many of our athletes come from the east coast, especially the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia area."

"Not only will USA Field Hockey's move to Nook Sports ignite even more excitement for the sport within the region, but it will create more opportunities for aspiring young players," said Steve Goris, general manager of Nook Sports. "With local, regional, national and now international games, leagues and tournaments year-round, it will create a multimillion dollar economic impact for Lancaster County."

Nook Sports said its facilities will include two water-based turf pitches, six additional artificial surfaces and more than 700,000 square feet of indoor space.